sacrifices
by envysparkler
Summary: They would do anything for their golden girl. - Lucy!centric


**a/n:** short oneshot that came out of late-night Fairy Tail episodes. also, my first fic in this fandom. konnichiwa, minna-san!

**dedication:** to the strange energy that burns in my veins due to sleep deprivation.

**disclaimer: **i own nothing.

**summary:** They would do anything for their golden girl. – Lucy!centric.

* * *

**sacrifices**

* * *

_they were more than a team – they were a family_

* * *

_**maiden of the sky**_

**W**endy never felt more alone, more distanced, more apart from Fairy Tail than the day Lucy's father died.

The news had hit them hard – scarcely a year after the former head of the Heartfilia went into bankruptcy, his body was found swaying on a rope in his apartment. In his suicide note, Charles Heartfilia proceeded to blame Lucy for every single thing that had gone wrong, starting with her mother's death.

The entire guild grieved with Lucy.

She just didn't know her that well, Wendy decided, looking at the comfortable chaos that surrounded the silent celestial spirit wizard. Erza was showing off some of her more outrageous reequips, trying to bring a smile to the blonde's face. Gray and Natsu sat beside her like sentinels, each comforting her with a tight one-armed embrace while Happy curled up on her shoulders. Levy, seated at Lucy's feet, rambled about anything and everything, filling the usually cheerful girl's silence with her own words.

Wakaba and Macao ran back and forth with plates of sweets and cakes while Cana dug into her heavier stock of alcohol, emerging with burning sake. Juvia was surprisingly voicing no protest at the sight of her half-naked crush so close to her rival, but instead sat with Levy, filling in for the other girl when she needed to rest. Even _Gajeel_ was helping, replacing the boxes of tissues every time they ran out.

Wendy scuffed her sandals on the wooden floor. She and Lucy had been on a few missions together, and there had to be _something_ she could do –

Wendy smiled as an idea hit her.

Hurrying out of the guilt, Wendy made her way to Lucy's apartment, retrieving the spare key under a withered plant before stepping into the room. Making her way towards a certain desk, Wendy smiled when she found what she was looking for.

Ten hours later, Wendy's fingers ached, her muscles groaned with pain and her vision swum; but Lucy's apartment was spotlessly clean and when the blonde girl finally returned to her house, she found a completely proofread stack of papers on a desk, the fruits of a story she had been building for months.

* * *

_**titania **_

**I**t was a routine mission up until everything went wrong. Erza had chosen it for the scenery, and the picturesque mountains mostly made up for the fact that the reward was low and the job easy.

However, the Vulcans attacked when Erza's back was turned and by the time she had finished off of her share of the monsters, she found Lucy with her hands futilely spread in front of the healer they were supposed to be protecting, blood running down her face from a nasty gash on her skull. Erza quickly defeated the remaining Vulcans and sent the healer off for help – Wendy had stayed in town in case the bandits that the villagers were worried about showed up there.

Catching Lucy just before she collapsed, Erza noted the dangerous head wound with increasing trepidation. If it was a concussion, as she feared, Lucy would have to stay awake. Falling asleep now would mean that she'd never wake up.

Shaking the girl every time she showed signs of drifting off, Erza began a mixed mess of stories and rumors, gossip and secrets. She told Lucy things that she would've never uttered out loud, things that she herself denied, things that she had never told anyone before.

She told Lucy of how overprotective and worried she got about Natsu and Gray, both who joined increasingly dangerous missions. She laughed with her on jokes before turning an embarrassed pink when Lucy weakly asked her about Jellal.

Erza told her how relieved she was that Jellal wasn't executed, how happy she was about the new deal that the Council had granted. How ecstatic she had been when she had accompanied Jellal on one of his biannual days out.

She told Lucy about the tiny life growing inside her and let the blonde touch her still-flat stomach in wonder. She poured out all her fears, lies, and secrets in a desperate attempt to save her teammate.

When Wendy arrived, Lucy was awake and smiling.

* * *

_**pupil of ur**_

**G**ray was never one to help with the touchy-feely, emotional side of things. But he couldn't help but break his own rule when he chanced upon a heartbroken Lucy, crying on a bench in the middle of the night, her tears mixing with the heavy rain that fell from the sky.

He didn't notice her at first – the darkness dimmed and she had curled into herself as a weak form of self-preservation. It was only the soft sobbing that alerted him to her presence.

One look at her and Gray could guess what happened. Sliding one hand behind her shoulder blades and another under her knees, he picked up the crying girl and quickly walked to his house, planning innovative ways to kill his idiot of a best friend.

Draping a huge blanket on her petite frame and pushing a cup of hot chocolate into her trembling fingers, Gray sat next to her with a box of tissues, patiently waiting for her to talk.

They had an odd relationship – most people who saw them together assumed they were together, but the truth was that Gray knew her best. Better than Erza and Levy and Wendy. Better than Natsu, even.

Between hiccups and streaming tears, Lucy's story came out in fits and bursts. Gray's temper was roused at the cruel things Natsu had said under the influence of _sake_, the cracks he'd unknowingly created in Lucy's heart.

Gray could do nothing – Lucy had long since given her heart away to the pink-haired _baka_ – but return Lucy's crushing embrace, offering her a different kind of solace in his cold arms.

He only hoped Natsu realized how lucky he was to have Lucy…_before_ he lost her.

* * *

_**salamander**_

**F**airy Tail had many enemies, and the latest was the dark guild Inferno's Eye, a guild that specialized in manipulating human emotions to achieve their desires. In light of that particular piece of knowledge, they really should have been more careful, but as Fairy Tail was beating them effortlessly, they ignored the warning signs up until Lucy was captured.

"Stop fighting or I'll kill her," the sibilant hiss slithered through the battles, followed by a tortured scream that showed that he intended to follow through on his word.

All the battles ceased.

"Much obliged, Fairy Tail." The master of Inferno's Eye was a shifty youth who looked as dangerous as he was. At his feet, Lucy lay bound inside a magic circle which activated again, causing another heartrending scream to echo through the clearing.

"What do you want?" Erza called, looking like she wanted to do nothing more than run him through with her sword.

"I want you to leave and never come back," he said bluntly, completely-at-ease.

"You insulted our guild's honor and plotted treason against the Council," Gray spat out, his words as sharp as his ice, "What makes you think we'll _ever_ let you go?" Any one of them could've defeated the master with two hands tied behind their back – receiving such terms was an insult to Fairy Tail.

"Well then, it looks like I underestimated the strength of your bonds," the man smiled, and moved to raise a hand, "If your honor is worth more than your friends –"

"_**NO!**_" Natsu's shout had the might of dragons behind it and the man stopped, amused at his anger. It took a few seconds for Natsu to rein in his temper enough to speak, "Let her go – I don't care what you want, just let Lucy go."

"You drive a hard bargain, Salamander," the master grinned, "I'll accept your terms. Get on your knees and beg for her life, and I'll let her walk free." Amidst the horde of Fairy Tail wizards, a few began to kneel, only to be stopped by his next words.

"No – only the Dragon Slayer." The silence that followed his statement was absolute as everyone, Fairy Tail and Inferno's Eye alike, stopped breathing at his demand. _Everyone_ knew of the Fire Dragon Slayer's fiery temper, and this man was pushing the limit.

"Get on your knees, Dragon Slayer," the man taunted, "Get on your knees and plead for her life and I'll let your whore go. You said anything – I want your infamous pride, Salamander."

Erza and Gray clenched their teeth at the deliberate provocation while Wendy moved in position, afraid that Natsu would unleash his anger and accidentally get Lucy killed.

To everyone's surprise, Natsu knelt, bowing so low his forehead touched the ground. "Please," he gritted out through clenched teeth, "_Onegai_, let Lucy go."

The master pretended to deliberate for a second before shaking his head, "No, Salamander, that won't do – that won't do at all. I want you, the legendary Natsu Dragneel to _beg_ for the bitch's life. I want you kissing my feet and promising the moon. I don't want a momentary lapse of dignity, I want your pride in _pieces_ by the time you're done."

Before he had been toeing the line – now he'd crossed it, ran for a mile and doused the whole thing in kerosene. He seemingly ignored the age-old adage of the consequences of poking a slumbering dragon in the eye.

"No, Natsu, don't, he's not worth it –" Lucy called, but was cut off by her screams as the magic circle activated.

"_Urusai_, Fairy slut," the man purred, "He's a big boy, let the Dragon Slayer make his own decisions."

"Stop." The master raised an eyebrow at the deadened tone but deactivated the magic circle again.

"Give back Lucy." It was Natsu's voice – but Natsu's voice as they never heard it before. He sounded defeated, humiliated, desperate as he began to plead for Lucy's life. "Please, _please_, I'll do anything. You can go free, you can have my damn pride, just please give Lucy back. She – I love her; don't take her away from me, from us. Just _please_, if you have a heart inside that black hole, give my Lucy back."

The master's smile was now a shit-eating grin that covered his entire face, "My, my, Salamander, I didn't know you had it in you." Throwing Lucy at Natsu's prostate form, he and the rest of Inferno's Eye vanished, leaving behind a clearing of shocked Fairy Tail wizards and one relieved Dragon Slayer.

He might've lost his pride, Inferno's Eye might've gotten away, but at least he – he and the rest of Fairy Tail – could see Lucy's smile again.

* * *

_**le fin**_

* * *

**a/n:** this is…ah, i don't even know anymore. yes, the last part was ripped off of the lisanna/natsu scene. no, i don't care about such deliberate copying. idk where i was going with this. if you squint really hard, you can see some one-sided gray/lucy and definitely natsu/lucy. if you were _really_ paying attention, there was some erza/jellal in the middle.


End file.
